Top 8 Useful Breastfeeding Tips For New Mothers

Breast milk contains a lot of the nutrients that help your newborn baby grow and stay healthy. Moreover, breast milk promotes the digestive system; strengthens the immune system; enhances IQ; helps to prevent SIDS; protects against conditions such as allergies, asthma, diabetes, and obesity. However, to boost your chance of success, we will share some simple tips and tricks which are the important breastfeeding tips for parents, particularly new moms.

1. Get Comfortable

The first of top 8 important tips for you is to make yourself comfortable when you are feeding your newborn. This is because breastfeeding can be tiring. Note that if you always feel pain from giving birth, you should support yourself with several pillows. Then, you cradle your kid close to your breast. Make sure that you should not lean forward to give your breast to him or her, as this can lead to pain, particularly soon after delivery.

You also always support the head of the baby with your hand and use the other hand to aid your breast. Next, make your kid open his or her mouth by tickling the baby’s lower lip softly with your nipple. If he or she is hungry, your baby will start latching on, sucking and swallowing with rhythmic manners.

2. Feed From Both Your Breasts

When breastfeeding, you should give the baby milk from both of the breasts. This is good for your baby. Initially, you thoroughly nurse your kid from the first breast until the breast becomes soft and lighter. Then you burp him or her and offer your second breast. When your kid is hungry, the baby will latch on to your second breast quickly. In a few cases, your baby can only prefer nursing on one breast. It is important that you should pump the other breast in order to relieve pressure and keep your milk supply.

3. Eat Healthy

Your diet plays an important role to ensure a great supply of breast milk. Hence, you need to pay attention to the diet. Breast milk can change in volume as well as composition depending upon the diet, so carefully choose your foods. Several healthy choices to enhance your milk production are milk, barley water, fennel tea, and garlic.

You also need to eat lactogenic foods that help to increase the good supply of breast milk and its quality. Some foods include eggs, raw almonds, oatmeal, spinach, carrots, and brown rice. Finally, to maintain your energy, you need to offer extra calories and fluids to your body.

4. Have Your Healthy Nipples

After each feeding, you allow a little of the breast milk in order to dry on your nipple naturally. Breast milk contains antibacterial and healing properties which have the ability to prevent cracked or sore nipples.

If your breasts suffer from the leak between feedings, you should use bra pads and replace them often. If the nipples are cracked or dry, you need to apply olive oil or coconut oil after each feeding. Then gently rub your nipples by using a wet and clean tissue before feeding the baby.

Besides, when taking a bath, wash the nipples completely to prevent the buildup of residue.

5. Get The Right Latch

Another useful tip is to get the right latch because breastfeeding for new moms is not always easy. When it comes to breastfeeding, the real experience is different from what you read in books. Therefore, when you breastfeed your newborn within one hour after delivery, you do not hesitate to require for help. A hospital lactation consultant or a maternity nurse can let you know how to position your baby to breastfeed properly.

Even though it can feel uncomfortable when the baby latches on, it does not cause pain. If it hurts badly, you cannot have the right position.

6. Look For Signals

When your baby is hungry, he or she will give you signals. He or she can root around searching for the nipple, put the hand in his or her mouth or look alert increasingly.

Once you notice any so signals, you need to pick up the baby and start feeding him or her. Initially, you can have to breastfeed 10 to 12 times per day. The more often you give your baby breastfeeding, the more milk the breasts will produce.

7. Keep Yourself Hydrated

One of the effective tips for moms is to keep your body hydrated. Proper hydration is good for health, especially moms. So it is important to drink a lot of water while breastfeeding.

As you may know, the hormones producing milk are capable of helping your body conserve water. If you do not intake enough water, it may prevent the body from producing enough milk. Increasing hydration does not increase milk supply necessarily but decreasing it has the tendency to reduce breast milk supply.

Besides, not drinking enough water also contributes to fatigue, poor concentration, and maternal constipation.

It is recommended that you always sip a cup of water when nursing. In addition, drinking plenty of fluids such as water, milk, and fresh juice throughout a day in order to keep you hydrated.

8. Do Not Use A Pacifier Too Early

The last of top 8 useful breastfeeding tips is to avoid giving your newborn baby a pacifier within the first months, as it can interfere with breastfeeding.

When breastfeeding is established well, a pacifier is able to cause your kid to stop getting your milk. This will have the good effect on their growth, as you are not able to feed him or her anything solid until your baby is six months old.

Once he or she has settled into a proper breastfeeding routine, give a pacifier to him or her at naptime or bedtime, which will help to reduce the chance of developing SIDS.

Additional Tips

Apart from the mentioned tips, being parents, you should follow these additional tips below to take care of your baby more effectively.

You let the baby sleep in your same room to make feeding easier at least for the six months after birth.

Do not smoke because the nicotine in it can interfere with him or her sleep. Besides, it increases the risk of pneumonia, asthma, bronchitis, eye irritation, and ear infections in your baby.

Because taking care of a baby can make you tired, you should rest whenever possible.

Avoid secondhand smoke, as it increases the chances of suffering from SIDS and respiratory illnesses.

To help your newborn baby latch properly, you should use nipple shields.

Hang Pham is author at LeraBlog. The author's views are entirely his/her own and may not reflect the views and opinions of LeraBlog staff. Hang Pham is an Vietnamese-American author and MA in English literature. She is a health article writer who has written numerous articles/online journals on natural health and home remedies. She is contributing to EffectiveRemedies.com from 2012.